FREE FLOW OF INFORMATION
An article from the Agencia Pública de Noticias de Quito
“Dedicated Lives”, a book on non-violence written by authors of the Press Association of Ecuador will be presented at the Casa Carrión this Wednesday, October 25th, at 7:00 p.m.
As part of its journalistic work, the Pressenza team in Ecuador conducted a series of interviews which are published in this book. The objective of this effort is to recover and disseminate the experience of 12 people who in Ecuador have dedicated their lives to a struggle, initiative, or task that contributes to the construction of a non-violent Ecuador. They are twelve testimonies, twelve examples for our future.
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The book will be published under the label of Manthra Editores. The main characters will include: Leonor Bravo and her dream of promoting reading, Nila de Aguiar on the situation of Afro-descendants, María del Carmen Barros on the importance of community building, Pascale Laso and the formation of the group Mujeres de Frente, Luis Montaluisa and Catalina Álvarez for their struggle for the rights of indigenous peoples; emblematic figures of the Ecuadorian Culture of the XX century.
The press agency Pressenza has been operating for 9 years. Its initial motivation was to cover the World March for Peace and Nonviolence. Journalists and photographers from some countries joined in this cause. In 2014, Pressenza was legalized in Ecuador as an International Press Agency, with a focus on Peace and Nonviolence, and for three years it has been a member of APE (Association of Foreign Press in Ecuador). Pressenza has about 250 volunteers in more than 30 countries, specialized in communication, social activism, cultural and academic fields.
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(Click here for the original version in Spanish.)
Journalism in Latin America: Is it turning towards a culture of peace?
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With a universalistic humanistic perspective, Pressenza is a space open to the expression of ordinary people. It works with issues related to humanism, non-violence, human rights, disarmament and discrimination, actively promoting collaboration agreements and alliances with other agencies, as well as links of reciprocity with portals, platforms, information and communication media, specific communities and cultures.
It has a wide network of news media that achieve worldwide dissemination of its local proposals, nourishing its information with the material provided by the agency. It is present in 30 countries and issues its information service daily in English, Italian, Spanish, French, Portuguese, German and Greek. It has columnists, reporters, photographers, graphics, video and translators on five continents, who contribute without profit their professional work, whose basic condition is their autonomy, independence and self-management.
In Ecuador, for 5 years, it has been promoting the Fair of Non-Violent Initiatives and, for 3 years, the October initiative for Peace and Non-Violence, whose activities are carried out jointly with groups, foundations and organizations that carry news about initiatives that promote non-violence and non-discrimination.
“Non-Violent October,” is a project of civil society, formed by a group of individuals and non-profit organizations, with the aim of promoting a humanistic and human rights approach, to motivate a culture of peace, active non-violence and non-discrimination, as life actions to contribute to the integration of individuals and their peoples.
“Non-Violent October,” carries out various activities throughout the year, especially in October, which begins with the International Day of Nonviolence. The work is collaborative and self-managing. It does not receive any kind of investment from a public or private entity, thus promoting the empowerment of individuals for individual and collective transformation.